Other Research Areas
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Resilient Cyber Physical Systems
A cyber physical system (CPS) is defined as a system involving the close integration of the system’s cyber (computational and communications) and physical components. Ideally, the tight coordination of the cyber and physical elements enables greater autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability, adaptability and usability. CPSs are typically considered to be “next generation” systems that will evolve from current generation embedded systems, sensor networks, robotics, energy systems and medical technology among other application spaces.
The Need for Security
The security of these systems must be addressed for a number of reasons. First, many envisioned CPSs will be used for critical decision-making and will affect human and societal welfare at different scales making it imperative that these systems be trustworthy, robust and reliable. For example, the emerging smart grid is a CPS involving bidirectional energy and information flow. The security and resilience of this critical infrastructure is of paramount importance. Similarly, technologies for robotic surgery must be trustworthy given their crucial application to healthcare and human welfare. Second, the tight coupling of cyber-physical components results in a highly information technology-intertwined system which is vulnerable to cyber attack on many scales. These attacks may be commonly known or even readily available online. Thus, CPSs provide greater opportunities for malicious opponents. Third, many CPS application areas such as the field of electric power systems are governed with cyber security guidelines and standards. For example, new “smart” technologies integrated by electric power utilities (EPUs) must be security-compliant. Thus, to be able to gain market share, vendors of secure CPS technologies must account for security in their subsystems design and development.
Vision
Secure cyber physical systems are envisioned to 1) provide robust control and communications, 2) be self- and situationally-aware in real-time, 3) provide continuous (but possibly limited) service under persistent attacks and failures, and 4) work cooperatively with shared defenses and understanding. Such functionality enables a cyber physical system to operate with the purpose for which it was procured even in the presence of malicious parties and/or adversarial efforts. This requires multidisciplinary support for security solutions that are autonomous, cooperative, efficient, reconfigurable, resilient, robust and scalable. And thus a deep understanding of the cyber interactions and infrastructure physics on a common semantic basis is needed to understand information flow and physical dependencies detrimental to operation.
The current generation of CPS-like systems demonstrates a large degree of decoupling. Cyber and physical elements are distinct and approaches to securing these systems are not holistic. This creates a separation within the various system and system protection technologies. One of the main goals our research is to enable the tighter coupling between the cyber and physical entities while addressing issues of security and trust during system inception, design, development and even deployment. This requires first understanding the cyber-physical interactions within a common language that enables the exploration of system vulnerabilities and approaches to robustness.
Research Focus
Our research focuses on the development of CPS modeling frameworks in order to understand elements of secure (and insecure) system topologies. Our recent focus has been on the modeling of smart grid systems. In one thrust, we have identified a class of cyber-physical switching attacks via variable-structure system theory. Here, we demonstrate how an attacker can cyber-corrupt breaker control signals to destabilize a target power system component such as a synchronous generator using local state information about the power system. The work enables a better understanding of how to design smart grid topologies intrinsically robust to this form of reconfiguration attack. In another thrust, we develop a flocking-theory inspired paradigm to describe smart grid cyber-physical interactions. Such a biologically-inspired framework enables the convenient description of (discrete) cyber and (analog) physical couplings. Through this paradigm, we demonstrate active control approaches using distributed generators and storage to re-stabilize a smart grid system under various forms of cyber and physical attack.
Related Course Resources
Cyber-Physical Security of the Smart Grid
Related Publications
On Using Distributed Energy Resources to Reshape the Dynamics of Power Systems During Transients Inproceedings Proc. IEEE SmartGridComm, Miami, FL, 2015. |
Robustness Analysis of Feedback Linearization Distributed Control Schemes in Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. to appear, Denver, CO, 2015. |
Frequency-Stabilizing Control Scheme for Islanded Microgrids Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. to appear, Denver, CO, 2015. |
Paradigms and Performance of Distributed Cyber-Enabled Control Schemes for Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. to appear, Denver, CO, 2015. |
A Novel Evolutionary Game Theoretic Approach to Real-Time Distributed Demand Response Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. to appear, Denver, CO, 2015. |
Implementing Attacks for Modbus/TCP Protocol in a Real-Time Cyber Physical System Test Bed Inproceedings Proc. IEEE International Workshop Technical Committee on Communications Quality and Reliability, pp. 1-6, Charleston SC, 2015. |
On Using Distributed Control Schemes to Mitigate Switching Attacks in Smart Grids Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical & Computer Engineering, pp. 1-5, Halifax NS, 2015. |
Cooperative Microgrid Networks for Remote and Rural Areas Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical & Computer Engineering, pp. 1-6, Halifax NS, 2015. |
On the Effects of Distributed Control Area Design for the Stabilization of Cyber-Enabled Smart Grids Incollection Proc. IEEE Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems, CPS Week, pp. 1-5, 2015. |
A Resilient Feedback Linearization Control Scheme for Smart Grids under Cyber-Physical Disturbances Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
On Using Energy Storage Systems in Switching Attacks That Destabilize Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
A Cyber-Enabled Stabilizing Controller for Resilient Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
Grid-Independent Cooperative Microgrid Networks with High Renewable Penetration Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
Distributed Sustainable Generation Dispatch via Evolutionary Games Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
Denial of Service Attacks and Mitigation for Stability in Cyber-Enabled Power Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, pp. 1-5, Washington DC, 2015. |
On the use of Matroid Theory for Distributed Cyber-Physical-Constrained Generator Scheduling in Smart Grid Journal Article IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, pp. 299-309, 2015. |
A Novel Bio-Inspired Technique for Rapid Real-Time Generator Coherency Identification Journal Article IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 6 (1), pp. 178-188, 2015. |
Cyber Attack Detection in PMU Measurements via the Expectation-Maximization Algorithm Inproceedings Proc. IEEE GlobalSIP Symposium on Energy Exchange and Intelligent Trading, Atlanta, GA, 2014. |
Performance of Flocking-Based Control Schemes in Smart Grid Applications Inproceedings Proc. IEEE GlobalSIP Symposium on Energy Exchange and Intelligent Trading, Atlanta, GA, 2014. |
Distributed Power Dispatch via Bifurcation Control Inproceedings Proc. IEEE GlobalSIP Symposium on Energy Exchange and Intelligent Trading, Atlanta, GA, 2014. |
A Flocking-Based Paradigm for Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Smart Grid Modeling and Control Journal Article IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 5 (6), pp. 2687-2700, 2014. |
A Game-Theoretic Control Approach to Mitigate Cyber Switching Attacks in Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE SmartGridComm, Venice, Italy, 2014. |
Performance Evaulation of Flocking-Based Distributed Cyber-Physical Control for Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE SmartGridComm, Venice, Italy, 2014. |
Implementing a Real-Time Cyber-Physical System Test Bed in RTDS and OPNET Inproceedings Proc. IEEE North American Power Symposium, Pullman, Washington, 2014. |
Network Delay Caused by Cyber Attacks on SVC and its Impact on Transient Stability of Smart Grids Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, Washington, DC, 2014. |
Practical Limitations of Sliding-Mode Switching Attacks on Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, Washington, DC, 2014. |
A Biologically Inspired Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Integrated Security Analysis Framework for Smart Grids PhD Thesis University of Toronto, 2014. |
A Coordinated Multi-Switch Attack for Cascading Failures in Smart Grid Journal Article IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 5 (4), pp. 1183-1195, 2014. |
Partition Based Cascaded Generator Scheduling with Constraints for Large Power Networks Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing, pp. 539-542, Austin, TX, 2013. |
A Framework for Modeling Cyber-Physical Switching Attacks in Smart Grid Journal Article IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computation Special Issue in Cyber-Physical Systems, 1 (2), pp. 273-285, 2013. |
Impact Analysis of Transient Stability Due to Cyber Attack on FACTS Devices Inproceedings Proc. North American Power Symposium, pp. 1-6, Kansas State University, 2013. |
Progressive Switching Attacks for Instigating Cascading Failures in Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, Vancouver, Canada, 2013. |
Impact of Cyber Attacks on Transient Stability of Smart Grids with Voltage Support Devices Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, Vancouver, Canada, 2013. |
A Multi-Flock Approach to Rapid Dynamic Generator Coherency Identification Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, Vancouver, Canada, 2013. |
Coordinated Variable Structure Switching Attacks for Smart Grid PhD Thesis Texas A&M University, 2013. |
Probing the Telltale Physics: Towards a Cyber-Physical Protocol to Mitigate Information Corruption in Smart Grid Systems Inproceedings Proc. IEEE International Conferenceon Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), Tainan City, Taiwan, 2012. |
Coordinated Variable Structure Switching Attack in the Presence of Model Error and State Estimation Inproceedings Proc. IEEE International Conferenceon Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), Tainan City, Taiwan, 2012. |
A Flocking-Based Dynamical Systems Paradigm for Smart Power System Analysis Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-8, San Diego, California, 2012. |
Two-Tier Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Security Analysis Framework For Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, pp. 1-5, San Diego, California, 2012. |
A Smart Grid Vulnerability Analysis Framework for Coordinated Variable Structure Switching Attacks Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, San Diego, California, 2012. |
"Cyber Attack Impact Analysis for the Smart Grid," in Smart Grid Communications and Networking Book Chapter V. Poor; Z. Han; E. Hossain (Ed.): pp. 353-372, Cambridge University Press, 2012, ISBN: 9781107014138. |
A Distortion-Theoretic Perspective for Redundant Metering Security in a Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), pp. 1-5, Montreal, Canada, 2012. |
On the Use of Cyber-Physical Hierarchy for Smart Grid Security and Efficient Control Inproceedings Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), pp. 1-6, Montreal, Canada, 2012. |
Coordinated Variable Structure Switching in Smart Power Systems: Attacks and Mitigation Inproceedings Proc. First International Conference on High Confidence Network Systems (HiCoNS) at Cyber Physical Systems Week (CPSWeek) 2012, pp. 21-30, Beijing, China, 2012. |
Switched System Models for Coordinated Cyber-Physical Attack Construction and Simulation Inproceedings Proc. Second IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), pp. 49-54, Brussels, Belgium, 2011. |
A Class of Cyber-Physical Switching Attacks for Power System Disruption Inproceedings Proc. 7th Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research Workshop (CSIIRW), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, 2011. |
Towards Modeling the Impact of Cyber Attacks on a Smart Grid Journal Article International Journal of Security and Networks, 6 (1), pp. 2-13, 2011. |
Towards a Framework for Cyber Attack Impact Analysis of the Electric Smart Grid Inproceedings Proc. IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), pp. 244-249, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 2010. |
Vector Field Driven Design for Lightweight Signal Processing and Control Schemes for Autonomous Robotic Navigation Journal Article EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing Special Issue on Signal Processing Advances in Robots and Autonomy, 2009 (Article ID 984752), pp. 9, 2009. |
Cybernetic Automata: An Approach for the Realization of Economical Cognition for Multi-Robot Systems PhD Thesis Texas A&M University, 2008, ((Winner of TAMU 2008 U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Award)). |